Background

Originally from Canada, I joined the Department of Music in 2004 as a lecturer. My departmental responsibilities include acting as Postgraduate admissions tutor for Composition, and serving as a coordinator for COMPASS, the department’s Centre for Composition and Associated Studies. I also oversee our link with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, our ‘ensemble in association’, which most notably involves coordinating workshops and performances of student works with the ensemble.

Teaching

I regularly teach on both undergraduate and postgraduate syllabuses with a specific focus on music composition and live electroacoustic music. I also teach other subjects, such as experimental music, and lead the University New Music Ensemble.

Research

As a composer my research focuses on musical composition for both acoustic instruments and electroacoustic resources. I have a particular interest in real-time interactive computer systems, mixed media pieces, and works mixing electroacoustics and live performers. I am also involved in research to develop flexible and idiosyncratic systems for audio spatialisation, and am an active in the development community of SuperCollider, a DSP and audio synthesis programming language, contributing extensively to its documentation, amongst other aspects.

Further information about my research and my career can be found on my personal site.

Research Group(s)

As part of my research and the Department’s focuses on Composition and Electroacoustic music, I work closely with staff and postgraduate researchers within COMPASS. This includes many external concerts and performances (with BEAST and the New Music Ensemble), and the ongoing development and refinement of BEAST’s systems for multichannel audio spatialisation.

Performances

My compositions have been presented internationally (Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, NewZealand, Japan, etc.) with notable performances at the Huddersfield Festival, ZKMusikFest, the Open Ears Festival, the Synthèse festival in Bourges, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada, and elsewhere. They have been broadcast on CBC Radio, the BBC, and Radio France.

Other activities

I also have an active interest in traditional Irish music, and in the performance of Javanese gamelan music.

Selected publications and recordings

Műllmusik. Marseilles: Production 326 music 326-004 (2001).

Contribution in the form of sonographic analysis to:

Slobin, Mark. Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World. Oxford: University Press 2000.

‘Wykonawstwo I prezentacja muzyki komputerowej’ (Performance and Presentation in Computer Music). Monochord, vol XIV-XV Poznan, Poland.

Personal website

Further information and examples of my work are available at http://scottwilson.ca